Salvation Accomplished and Approaching

What does it mean to be saved? The term is bandied about in our Christian culture so much that we simply take it for granted without necessarily understanding the depth of the concept behind the simple term. The term “saved” is also bandied about by unbelievers, and usually has quite a negative connotation – “saved” people are the narrow minded tub-thumping fundamentalists who hate rock and roll and science, and who say a quick prayer to escape everlasting judgment in hell only to embark on a life of judging others in this world. There was even a film a few years back which satirized the fundamentalist Christian scene, and it was called “saved.”
Looking past the stereotypes, as well as anything the church may have done to earn any legitimate criticism, we'll focus in this sermon on what it truly means to belong to Jesus Christ, to be “saved.”
The concept and indeed the reality of salvation is at the heart of our passage this morning and is the next piece of armor that believers are do don as we engage in spiritual warfare. And so we'll seek to understand from Scripture what it really means to be saved, and to take up that salvation in battle.